So if I wanted to add CW Skimmer ... I believe it uses IQ ... I of course don't want to mess with my current set up using both of these as noted above. And of course since Skimmer uses IQ and WSJT doesn't - that would suggest I believe there is no solution without having to go in and out changing settings ... or am i missing something (hopefully so)?

If the above is true might it be possible to add a "VAC3" that is pointable to RX1 or RX2, runs independent of VAC1/2 as well as concurrent, and of course has "I/Q" out capability?

OR and what I believe the response might be - use another VAC program like VMB-banana(?) which I think allows splitting - although that doesn't solve the need to go in and click on I/Q out on/off as the mode warrants it ... however if that were the case then maybe add to the AUDIO | VAC1 tab a setting "VAC1 and I/Q out enabled if mode = CW" which might be simpler than adding a third VAC.

It can use either audio or IQ. However, if you want to process greater than 3KHz (or so, can't remember the exact limitation), then you have to use IQ.

... I of course don't want to mess with my current set up using both of these as noted above. And of course since Skimmer uses IQ and WSJT doesn't - that would suggest I believe there is no solution without having to go in and out changing settings ... or am i missing something (hopefully so)?

Again, you can configure Skimmer to use either audio or IQ. But if you use audio, then you can only process a typical audio bandwidth, as I mentioned above.

If the above is true might it be possible to add a "VAC3" that is pointable to RX1 or RX2, runs independent of VAC1/2 as well as concurrent, and of course has "I/Q" out capability?

Anything is possible. You just have to talk a developer into doing it , or write the code yourself.

OR and what I believe the response might be - use another VAC program like VMB-banana(?) which I think allows splitting - although that doesn't solve the need to go in and click on I/Q out on/off as the mode warrants it ... however if that were the case then maybe add to the AUDIO | VAC1 tab a setting "VAC1 and I/Q out enabled if mode = CW" which might be simpler than adding a third VAC.

This could work if you only wanted IQ at the same sample rate as the audio, i.e. you could carry normal audio on channels 1 and 2, and IQ on channels 3 and 4, of the same cable, both at 48KHz. However, the complexity of doing this is probably greater than implementing a VAC3.

At any rate, right now your choices are to set up Skimmer for audio and restrict your bandwidth, or have two setups, one for Skimmer with IQ and one for other digi programs with audio. You could also play games with using VAC1 for one type of output, VAC2 for another, but one of the programs would be in a receive-only mode.

I think Skimmer is basically useless if set up for 3Khz (using audio) ... so it would need to be I/Q. And VAC2 is dedicated to RX2/ADC2 if I understood that correctly ... so I will need to explore what that means (in addition to the fact that it means I would still need to be turning things on and off).

K9RX wrote:And VAC2 is dedicated to RX2/ADC2 if I understood that correctly."

Not exactly correct, Gary. VAC2 is dedicated to RX2. However, RX2 is not dedicated to ADC2.

Go to Setup > General > ADC and select the DDCs so that the one associated with RX2 is pointed at ADC1. I'm sorry, I can never remember how that works on every radio, but a little experimentation will quickly reveal which one to change. Once that is done, then both RX1 and RX2 will be processing the same data from ADC1.

Don't forget that if you are using the two receivers both on ADC1 but on different bands, that you may need to turn off preselection. This is because VFO A (nominally RX1) will otherwise drive preselector settings and they may not be appropriate for VFO B/RX2.